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J.C. Penney ad apologizes to customers

J.C. Penney is sorry and it wants your business back. That's the gist of its latest ad, a public "mea culpa" which the mid-priced department-store put on its YouTube and Facebook pages.

The ad, titled "It's no secret," shows shots of women working, playing with their children and doing other everyday activities.

The ad comes after the Plano, Texas-based company earlier this month fired its CEO, Ron Johnson, after 17 months on the job and rehired his predecessor, Mike Ullman.

Johnson's ambitious changes included getting rid of most sales and bringing in new, hip brands. The strategy was designed to attract younger, wealthier shoppers in a bid to reinvent the stodgy retailer, but it alienated Penney's loyal customers and caused sales to plummet.

The ad acknowledges the missteps and asks customers to return to its stores. "Come back to J.C. Penney. We heard you; now we'd love to see you," the voice-over states.



Little Debbie's Logo Change is a Spot the Difference GameLittle Debbie did not consult with Gap, JCPenney or any other noted logo overhaulers before updating its own logo—

the first tweak to the design since 1985. The change is remarkably subtle, so much so that the dessert-snacks brand is

challenging its fans on Facebook to see how many differences they can find.



Mountain Dew Pulls Ad After Cries of Racism

PepsiCo has pulled a Mountain Dew video after it was criticized for being in one commentator's

telling, "arguably the most racist ad in history," according to a report.

A rep for the brand told Adweek that the ad has been removed from all official Mountain Dew online

channels, though copies of it persist on individual YouTube accounts. A rep confirmed the report to

Mashable.

The ad, one of a series from Odd Future leader Tyler, the Creator, shows a white woman who has

been the obvious victim of an assault. The woman is asked to identify her assailant in a lineup, but

the culprit, a goat, dissuades her from doing so. "Ya better not snitch on a playa," says the goat.

"Snitches get stitches.“

http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/14403.aspx


SOCIAL & MOBILE



Retwact May Solve Twitter's Misinformation Problem

Even worse than the pornbots and trolls, one of Twitter's enduring

drawbacks is that there's no reliable way to issue corrections with

the service.

The flaw drew a truckload of attention in the wake of the Boston

bombings as self-appointed detectives — fueled by Reddit —

made all kinds of invalid allegations on social media. But that is

simply the most extreme case of what's a very ordinary problem.

Some journalists have called for Twitter to build a corrections

function involving the same code it uses for retweets and favorites.

So far, Twitter has given no indication that it plans to do so, which

has led one independent developer to build his own solution.

The tool is called Retweet Retract — or Retwact, for short. Built as

a side project by Stonly Baptiste, a software developer at the

Pennsylvania-based company independenceIT, Retwact tries to

contain the damage (and shame) that comes along with spreading

information that later turns out to be untrue.

http://mashable.com/2013/04/30/retweet-retract/



Swedish App Helps You Drink In Moderation

Swedish alchohol retail monopoly Systembolaget and its agency Forsman & Bodenfors have

developed Level 0.06, a smartphone app that encourages people to drink more moderately by helping

them keep their blood alcohol level below 0.06 per cent (the point where the positive effects of alcohol

are at their peak.). While not intended to be used for drink-drive purposes, the app measures blood

alcohol levels based on what you drink to help you cut down but still enjoy a drink.

Within a few months of its launch, the free app had been downloaded by nearly a quarter of all

smartphone owners in Sweden and 24 % of users had reduced their alcohol consumption. Its

success is currently being studied at Stockholm's Karolinska Institutet medical university.

http://creativity-online.com/work/systembolaget-level-06-app/31375



Budweiser: The Buddy CupBudweiser doesn’t think grabbing some beers at a bar

is quite social enough. Or at least not

social network enough.

The company’s Brazil team has come up with the

Buddy Cup- a cup that when tapped with another one of

its kind allows the two cup holders to become Facebook

friends. That’s right, no need to put down the beer, take

out the phone, search for a name and then send a

friend request.

So, how does it all work? Similar to other connected

objects, Manuel Rangel Macchiavello of Budweiser

Brazil said. A computer chip with what Budweiser calls a

“bump sensor” is integrated into the bottom of the cup.

Also on the bottom of the cup is a QR code, which

works with a Budweiser app to link the cup to your

Facebook account. When two people clink glasses, the

friend request is sent from one to another.


“FAIL!” OF THE WEEK



'Gangnam Style' Goes Bollywood for Samsung Galaxy S4"Gangnam Style" may be well, well past its prime, but it didn't stop Samsung from performing its own

version of the song over the weekend during its Galaxy S4 launch in Mumbai.

The song, re-dubbed "S4 Samsung Style," was led by Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh. It featured the

same background music and horse-style dancing as the original — just more S4-tailored lyrics, like,

"If you liked the S3, then this phone is even better; it has an HD screen and it's just a lot slimmer."

http://mashable.com/2013/04/29/samsung-style/


OUTDOOR



Diet Coke's Vending Machine Goes On A Diet

When the bottles are so sleek, shouldn't the vending machine be too? Ogilvy

Paris and Diet Coke team up to design a "Slender Vender," an elegant-looking

vending machine that was inspired by the aluminum bottles the soda comes

packaged in.


NUPERSPECTIVE


Calgary Zoo’s Instagram Annual Report

http://instagram.com/calgaryzoo2012ar#


MARK’S “TWO THUMBS UP!”

OF THE WEEK



IBM -- 'A Boy and His Atom'

IBM and Ogilvy make a big impact with the smallest of building blocks in their

latest video, billed as "the world's smallest movie"—a stop-motion animation

made by IBM scientists using atoms.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oSCX78-8-q0


Pizza Friday is Numantra’s weekly venue for reviewing the

latest news, innovations and accomplishments taking place in our industry and the world at large.

Our founders each have spent decades working for some of the largest ad agencies in the world. It was experience that was invaluable, ultimately, because it taught us that we just can’t keep following years of tradition if we want to have an

impact in today’s marketplace.

So we got together for a lot of serendipitous reasons and formed Numantra. Ka-boom! The forever-new marketing

braintrust that maximizes client resources with fresh insights, accountable solutions and kick-ass results was born.

Find out what Numantra can do for you.

Visit numantra.com for more information.

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